Let us introduce you to Christopher Matthew Spencer, author of Business Payment Processing and eBay: Selling Your Stuff QuickStudy guides. He is an eBay expert, businessperson, author, educator, and mentor.

1. What is your profession and what drew you to this career?
A: I am a businessperson, author, educator, and mentor to others in business. I lead The Spencer Company, which is a firm that I founded in 1988, with services in technology, marketing, intellectual property development, and brand protection. I’d like to mirror the sentiments of fellow author Dan Brown by saying that I’m happily confused and a work in progress. I recall Steven Spielberg saying that he didn’t have a master plan in life and that he liked to go with the flow. That’s me. I react to what comes. I treasure every moment in my life. It’s a wonderful journey and helping people really touches my heart. I am a serial optimist and if I want to accomplish something, I do it. As a result, I have adapted to the dramatic changes in technology and how people interact online to stay competitive in business. I do not resist change, I embrace it when it comes. I also love to give back. In 1993, I co-founded Dreams to Reality Foundation. We’re helping people in need with a substantial focus on youth education. It’s important work and when technology made it possible, we began fundraising for this great cause online. Where we used to have bake sales, we now run online auctions. eBay and PayPal make this important fundraising easy.

2. What makes you the authority on the QuickStudy guides you have written?
A: I’m a student first and expert second. I am absorbing information every day. I crave that greater understanding of things. I’m always asking questions and reading about things, that includes the topics I write about. Business Payment Processing and eBay: Selling Your Stuff are really memoirs of what I’ve learned over the years. I love the abbreviated format. They are truly free of fluff and are very concise. The format demands the focus. I worked for eBay from 2001 to 2008 and during that time, I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and then-CEO Meg Whitman. Both very wonderful leaders educated me in ways I cannot describe. They inspired me. I shared two meals with Mrs. Whitman and she bought items from me on eBay. It was surreal. I’ve had the benefit of opening my doors in 1988, and selling on eBay since 1999. I feel that I am uniquely positioned to educate people on payments and online retail because I am in this every day. I live it. I’ve seen almost every imaginable outcome of such a vast array of business events and moments. I learned this all the hard way, by doing it. I celebrate higher education. I never trivialize that. I got my hands in business at an early age. I dove in and never looked back. I have practical experience.

3. Finish this sentence:
After using the QuickStudy guide Business Payment Processing the reader will sidestep many pitfalls, including the potential for losing money to scams and fraud; while discovering the many ways to get paid (and to pay others) in business. Expand horizons through a greater understanding of the payments landscape, increase sales, and profits, by using as many practical payment methods that are out there. Cut costs by knowing how fees work, and improve the customer experience.

After using the QuickStudy guide eBay: Selling Your Stuff the reader will learn my inspiration and passion for online selling. It’s about eBay, and it’s also about managing an online business with professionalism and grace…while seeking a profit. I always put the customer experience out front. Succeeding in a sea of competition requires amazing customer service. I do not drive my prices to the floor, I raise my service to the sky.

5. Is there any advice you’d like to give our readers who have their own small/online business?
A: I am always afraid of failure. It completely scares me. All the time. Anyone in business who isn’t afraid, I’d be worried for them. It requires hard work, patience, and being willing to step outside your comfort zone. I do that every day. Experience has mellowed me out. Kathy Ireland tells us if we aren’t failing, we aren’t trying. I really believe in the power of positive thinking. I used to doubt a lot. I was horribly skeptical in the past. Today, I’m not foolish, I do make careful decisions…I’m not likely to doubt people the way I did in the early days of my business career. Warren Buffett says to take a job that you love. That applies to being an entrepreneur too. Every business idea has the potential to make money. If you’re chasing fads, you’re bound to fail. If you’re chasing a passion, you can’t fail because you’ll love every minute of it. You’ll jump out of bed in the morning.

About the author:
Christopher Matthew Spencer is a business person, author, educator, and mentor. Christopher Matthew worked from 2001 to 2008 as an eBay University instructor and eBay evangelist.
He is the president of The Spencer Company, sits on the board of Dreams to Reality Foundation, is an international business consultant for kathy ireland® Worldwide, and is a LinkedIn Learning author.
He was early to embrace the Internet culture. Like many, he saw it as an information highway that could be applied innovatively. Christopher Matthew’s focus on entrepreneurs and everyday Internet users derive from his “roll up your sleeves, hardworking mindset” that has led him to his own achievements.
Christopher Matthew mentors and educates on a wide variety of essential topics, including nonprofits, sales, retail, payments, as well as real estate and rental properties.
Christopher Matthew’s philosophy encompasses life-long learning and he loves sharing his expertise with those who desire it, just as he did many years ago. He has consulted to many notable Fortune 1000 companies.
His mission is education through demonstration. Christopher Matthew attributes his success to happiness and the pursuit of all things he finds fun in life.
Christopher Matthew Spencer has written three QuickStudy guides for BarCharts; Ebay: Selling Your Stuff, Business Payment Processing, and SalesForce.